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Richard Read
Richard Horace Gordon Read, O.G. (April 16, 1908 - November 2, 1980) was an influential Georgeland broadcaster and entertainer who is mostly remembered for his hugely successful television program The Richard Read Show, which ran for twelve seasons from 1958-1970. Read's infectious charm and wit, as well as his very turbulent private life, have led him to become one of Georgeland's most popular entertainers, even in retrospect. Early life and career Read was born in 1908 in Dunkirk, Long Island and educated at home by his father, who had been a headmaster. His father was 21 years older than his mother and died when Read was very young. Read attended a public school after his father's death and showed an interest in sports and literature. He was an avid reader from an early age and remained so until his death. In 1927, Read applied to the University of Long Island but was rejected as a student. Instead, he took a job as a copy boy in the office of the Long Island Tribune and Herald newspaper. Read remained at the newspaper through the Depression and became a photographer after locking the paper's editor, the formidable John Cox-Hayes, in his office until Cox-Hayes agreed to give Read the job. Broadcasting career After several years at the paper, in 1934 Read was offered a job as a news writer for GBC Radio's Long Island edition. Read remained in this position until 1937, when his career took a sudden and dramatic turn. The regular newsreader had suddenly taken ill, and Read stepped in to read the news bulletin in his place. The producers of the news bulletin decided Read, with his deep voice and diction, made a better newsreader and hired him to read the news permanently. Army service In 1941, Read enlisted in the Army to fight during the Second World War. He was posted initially to North Africa before transferring to Malaya in 1943. Read held the rank of Corporal in the Georgeland Signal Corps and used his journalistic and radio experience in this regard. He also wrote a number of articles for the forces magazine, Hero. In 1946, following the conclusion of the war and at the end of his tour of duty, Read recieved an honourable discharge. Successful broadcaster Read returned to broadcasting. The GBC hired Read to be their national newsreader. Read, however, was more interested in variety and in 1952 was made host of the popular Local Variety Hour which had many similar features to his later television series. Together with Michael Royce, Read broadcast the coronation of Elizabeth II on the radio (television not having come to Georgeland at that time.) ''The Richard Read Show'' *''Full article: The Richard Read Show'' In 1958, Read was lured from the GBC to commercial television, which had only recently begun operating. The fledgling Channel 6 commercial network, known as TV-6 in Doubledance, invited Read to be the host of a new weekly variety program. Originally to be called The Friday Night Show, when the network realised Read's popularity they named the show after him. The first episode of The Richard Read Show was broadcast on March 14, 1958. By the third week of broadcast it was the country's highest-rated program. It would remain so for most of its twelve-year run. Read was immediately a television sensation. Read's distinctive voice and on-screen demeanour as a good-humoured, slightly aloof host made him a household name and the country's highest-paid entertainer from 1962 until 1970. Read played the role of the show's affable, somewhat long-suffering host so well that few realised his true personality differed sharply from his onscreen persona. In fact, Read was well known in the industry for his assertive, acerbic nature and quite violent temper. He was also noted for his womanising and alcoholism (see private life below). However, Read was also a philanthropist and many people inside show business have commented that they owed their careers to being given "a break" by Read. Retirement In December 1969, Read announced that the next season of his TV program would be his last. Channel 6 attempted to persuade him to continue at least until 1974 by offering him a large pay increase, but Read firmly turned them down. In 1970 he broke with the apolitical stance he had held since the show began (he once quipped that all politicians were fair game because none of them could understand his jokes anyway) by campaigning for Victor Howard and the Labour Party during the 1970 election campaign. When Howard won his historic victory, and ended twelve years of Conservative rule, he was a guest on Read's show shortly afterwards. Read liked to joke that now that the Conservatives were out of office, he had to retire because he'd "used up his A-material." Read went into semi-retirement. He did not continue to work on television regularly but made occasional appearances on several programs. He was interviewed extensively by Gareth Nelson in 1976 - the interview, which is three hours long and concentrates on Read's career, is now available on DVD. Death In July 1980 Read was diagnosed with cancer of the liver, brought on by years of alcohol abuse. Read had given up drink after his retirement, but the damage had already been done. Read's condition deteriorated after early October, when he made his final TV appearance as a guest on This is Television. Visibly frail during that appearance, Read was nonetheless praised for his witty and relaxed performance. On November 2, Read died in St. Bartholemew's Hospital in Dannyburg. His funeral was attended by hundreds of show business personalities from Georgeland and overseas. His wife, Melissa, read one eulogy while the other was read by Kenneth Hope, the fearsome TV critic who, ironically, had savaged Read's program in 1959. Legacy Read remains an iconic symbol of the early days of television in Georgeland and a national icon. His long-running series was seen by almost every family at one time or another, and he has a reputation as the country's greatest entertainer. Modern-day entertainers such as Jim Cryer and Nathan Kellerman have both acknowledged Read as a personal inspiration, with Cryer declaring in 2000, twenty years after Read's death, that he, Cryer, only went into television because he wanted to be like Richard Read. In a poll of the 20 Greatest Georgelanders for the television program of the same name in 2004, Read polled at #7. Depictions in popular culture Read has been portrayed a number of times in the popular media. The most notable portrayal was by David Hodge in 1983's Read, a made-for-TV movie about Read's life. In 2003, the film Life and Other Disasters, about comedian John Irish, a contemporary of Read's, Read was played by Stephen Cook. Private Life Marriages and children Read was married four times and is reported to have had affairs with many other women. In his 1994 biography of Read, author David Patrick suggested Read may have had at least four illegitimate children, though only one is confirmed. *Read married Clarissa Hope in 1935. They remained together until 1949, when they divorced. The marriage produced three children - Jennifer (b. 1940), a physician and academic, Neil (b. 1943) and Stuart (b. 1945). *Read's second marriage, to Emily Pinter, lasted from 1952 until 1962, again ending in divorce. They had two children - David (b. 1954), and Michael (b. 1958), both of whom had successful business careers. *Read announced his engagement to Rebecca Donnelly, a production assistant on his program, live on air in March 1963. They were married in June and remained so until their divorce in 1974. Donnelly was 18 years Read's junior. They divorced after a bitter separation. Read and Donnelly had one daughter, journalist Lucy (b. 1964) *Read's final wife, Melissa Travers, married him in 1977 and remained with him until his death in 1980. Travers, born in 1953, was 45 years younger than Read. The marriage did not produce any children. Read is known to have at least one illegitimate child. Writer and academic Frank Barker (b. 1960), who has also worked in broadcasting, is Read's son by Elizabeth Barker, who was a secretary for the Channel 6 Network. Read admitted his affair with Elizabeth Barker in 1974 during his divorce from Rebecca Donnelly. Frank Barker and Read were evidently quite close at the time of Read's death, though Read never officially claimed to be Barker's father. Alcoholism Read was also an alcoholic, and several editions of his program were prorogued or cancelled altogether due to his being drunk and unable to appear. In what has become a television legend, Read performed his show as usual on the evening of September 25, 1964 despite being quite intoxicated. Nonetheless, the show went to air and only a very small percentage of the audience noticed anything amiss. The incident was covered up by the network and it wasn't until Read retired that he was able to admit he had been drunk on-air. Read quite drinking in 1970 and appears to have remained a tea-totaller until his death. The alcohol damage to his liver was, however, enough from use of abuse to lead to cancer, which was the cause of his death. Quotes *''Now that's variety!'' :Read's catchphrase, said on every edition of his program. *''I can't help it. I like women. I like their shape and their smell and the sounds they make. It's a serious condition.' :Being interviewed about his womanising in 1974. *''There's TV talent, and there's genuine talent. I only had TV talent. *''Yes, I was drunk. Of course I was drunk. I'd started drinking at five-thirty and suddenly it was eight-o-clock and nobody reminded me to stop. What was more incredible is that nobody noticed, before or after the show. Except the director. He noticed. Oh, boy, did he notice...'' :On his 1964 "drunk on-air" incident. Category:Georgeland